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CricPredict: resource-aware prediction of T20 cricket match
Get PDFOne of the key problems in cricket is the increasing number of abandoned matches due to unusual circumstances. There is a total of three different formats in cricket e.g., Test, ODI and T20 international. Usually, the Duckworth–Lewis (D/L) method is used to decide the outcome of the match in Test and ODI cricket, resulting in favour of one team like completed matches. In contrast to the traditional D/L method, we tried to incorporate players' performance indicators into our proposed architecture despite the traditional D/L method which only includes the current state of the match and determines the outcome. To accomplish this task, we tried multiple different machine learning techniques e.g., Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Naïve-Bayes, Linear Regression and Polynomial Regression and a deep learning model to predict the outcome of the match. To train and validate our developed architecture, we crawled data from the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the completed matches. Our proposed architecture takes complete matches as input and for the second batter, it predicts outcome at intermediate stages of matches. Later, the performance of our proposed architecture is computed using different performance indicators e.g., accuracy, Mean squared error etc. In our opinion, our proposed resource-aware prediction architecture is a unique contribution of its kind in the field
IBSEN first quarterly newsletter (May 2024) - English version
Get PDFBuilding an International Biological Security Education Network (IBSEN) Project First Quarterly Newsletter (May 2024) -- English versio
A global picture for the planar Ricker map: convergence to fixed points and identification of the stable/unstable manifolds
Get PDFA quadratic Lyapunov function is demonstrated for the noninvertible planar Ricker map (x, y) → (xe^{r−x−αy}, ye^{s−y−βx}) which shows that for α,β > 0, and 0 < r, s ≤ 2 all orbits of the planar Ricker map converge to a fixed point. We establish that for 0<r, s<2, whenever a positive equilibrium exists and is locally asymptotically stable, it is globally asymptotically stable (i.e. attracts all of (0,∞)^2). Our approach bypasses and improves on methods that rely on monotonicity, which require 0 < r, s ≤ 1. We also use the Lyapunov function to identify the one-dimensional stable and unstable manifolds when the positive fixed point exists and is a hyperbolic saddle
Stakeholder viewpoints on embedding employability in Higher Education
Get PDFBackground. Employability is increasingly prioritised in the broader policy and regulatory climate as a key metric for evaluating performance in the Higher Education (HE) sector and in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Regulator thresholds now require that 60% full-time students taking their first degree progress into professional work (or take additional studies) within the 15-month period following graduation. A large and growing body of literature has explored varied definitions of employability, interventions to audit and embed employability in HEIs alongside more critical discussion around employability. Employability is important for a number of different stakeholders both internal stakeholders within HE (e.g., learners, teachers) and external stakeholders beyond HE (e.g., employers, Further Education practitioners). Project Focus. This project was designed to explore viewpoints of embedding employability, and of employability more broadly, held by a subset of internal stakeholders. Three stakeholder groups were the focus of dissertation project work: learners, teachers (i.e., academic teaching staff) and careers staff (i.e., careers and employability or work-based learning staff). There were two project research questions. A first, broad, research question (RQ1): ‘How do stakeholders of employability define employability?’ and a second, more focused, research question (RQ2):'How is the embedding of employability within H.E. programme designs, curricula, learning environments and other pedagogic initiatives viewed by stakeholders of employability?’ Methods. Ethical approval was secured from the London Metropolitan University Ethics Committee. Two Research Assistants (RAs) led recruitment and data collection for the project. Prospective participants were recruited to the project via email circulars, via targeted institutional recruitment messages and via social media messaging. The project sample comprised 12 participants in total: four from each stakeholder group. Individuals participated in online semi-structured interviews lasting, on average, 43 minutes. Interview data was transcribed verbatim and subjected to an interpretivist type of Thematic Analysis (TA). Findings. Analyses are presented in two main sections; one concerning RQ1 (broader understandings/ definitions of employability) and one concerning RQ2 (focused on viewpoints of embedding employability in UK HEI curricula). The first section of analysis contained interview material focused on contextual issues relevant to embedding employability in HEIs. An overarching theoretical framework - Ecological Systems Theory (EST) - assisted understanding of contextual material focusing on three systems: the microsystem, the mesosystem, and the macrosystem. Four themes were presented in the first section of analysis. These were titled: Theme 1: The importance of complex, plural definitions of employability (microsystem level); Theme 2: Seeking to embed employability into an overloaded curriculum (mesosystem level); Theme 3: Navigating the neoliberal landscape and ethical concerns about embedding employability (macrosystem level); and Theme 4: The elephant in the room: social justice and employability (macrosystem level). The second section of analysis contained interview material that concerned key factors relevant to optimising the embedding of employability in HEI learning and teaching environments. Five themes were identified linked to the second section of analysis. These were titled: Theme 1: The systemic challenge to motivate and engage; Theme 2: Arenas beyond the classroom; Theme 3: Tailored approaches are better; Theme 4: Embedding professional collaboration; and Theme 5: Learning to know and manage the self. Project recommendations and practical implications. Recommendations and implications for practice derived from project evidence are considered at various levels of action including my own teaching practice, local learning and teaching approaches, broader institutional strategies, UK related sector wide policy and debate and the broader global pedagogic community associated with Higher Education
Let's move with Leon: a randomised controlled trial of a UK digital intervention to improve physical activity in people with a musculoskeletal condition
Get PDFObjective:
This paper present a real-world evaluation of a digital intervention, ‘Let’s Move with Leon’, designed to improve physical activity and health-related quality of life in people with a musculoskeletal condition.
Study design:
A pragmatic randomised controlled trial.
Methods:
After randomisation and withdrawals were removed, 184 participants were assigned to receive the digital intervention with 185 assigned to a control group. Self-reported physical activity was the primary outcome. Health-related quality of life, the number of days completing strength-based exercises per -week, the capability, opportunity, and motivation to be active, and step count were secondary outcomes. Outcomes were assessed over 4, 8 and 13-weeks.
Results:
Significant improvements were seen for self-reported physical activity at 13 weeks, reported strength days at 8 weeks, perceptions of physical capability and automatic motivation to be active at 4 and 8 weeks. No improvements were seen in step count or health-related quality of life over the control group.
Conclusion:
Digital interventions such as ‘Let’s Move with Leon’ have the potential to increase physical activity in people with a musculoskeletal condition, however, improvements are likely to be small. Small improvements in physical activity may not be enough to improve HRQoL
How does anticipatory trauma reaction and climate-friendly behaviour make an affect at the individual level? The role of social norms and self-efficacy
Get PDFClimate change is unavoidable and requires serious consideration at both the organizational and individual levels. Climate change mitigation, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions globally and climate financing for developing countries, etc. are key issues and challenges towards environmental sustainability. This paper aims to develop a framework for Climate-Friendly Behaviour (CFB) for environmental sustainability from an individual perspective. The present study recognizes the role of social norms and self-efficacy in developing positive behaviour toward environmental sustainability. On the proposed integrated CFB framework of Value Belief Norms (VBN) and self-efficacy theory, this study is a unique conceptual-empirical scholarly development, examining individual-level contemplation toward climate-supportive policy measures. This research evaluates the relationship between Anticipatory Trauma Reaction (ATR) and CFB in the presence of Perceived Social Efficacy (PSE) and Perceived Social Norms (PSN) as moderators and mediators. We have used the survey method to examine a sample of 238 respondents and assess the structural equation modelling analysis and PLS predictions using SmartPLS software. The findings indicate that climate change-related anxiety-driven ATR facilitates CFB among individuals. Next, the study adds value to VBN theory as the results also suggest that PSN improves ATR's positive impact on CFB. This work further expands the horizon of self-efficacy theory by arguing that PSE transmits the positive effect of ATR on CFB. The study delivers many worthy theoretical and practical contributions toward climate change policies and environmental sustainability implications
Quality service delivery in tertiary institutions in Ghana: a comparative study of public and private universities
Get PDFThe tertiary educational sector contributes significantly to the socio-economic and cultural development of Ghana and is crucial to the world economy at large. The sector is however becoming more dynamic and increasingly competitive, and has been beset with many challenges including inappropriate governance practices. Researchers have indicated that in competitive milieu, measurement of service quality using country-specific scales would speedily help identify problems, adequately improve service performance, better evaluate consumer satisfaction and enhance competitive advantage. However, there is a dearth of empirical investigations in Ghana’s tertiary education context that apply country-specific measures to assess and compare perceived service quality levels provided by the Ghanaian public and private university sectors and its effect on student satisfaction via perceived value.
To address this gap based on literature reviewed, a conceptual model and ten hypotheses were proposed for this study. To test the hypotheses and conceptual model, a mixed methods research design underpinned by a pragmatist philosophy was employed that comprised two phases. The first phase involved qualitative research using four focus group discussions, whose responses were analysed by thematic analysis to develop a scale for University Governance, which was subjected to content validity assessment. The scale was then used alongside other measures to design a survey questionnaire for the second phase, this being the main cross-sectional quantitative research. Quantitative data was obtained by administering a pre-tested questionnaire on 800 undergraduate and postgraduate students selected by a four-stage process of purposive, cluster, stratified and simple random sampling methods. Confirmatory factor analysis, partial least square structural equation modelling and T-test were employed in the analysis of the quantitative data and the testing of the hypotheses.
The key findings are that five dimensions (environmental adequacy in study factor, university governance, teaching methodology, placement, and access listed in ranking order of highest first) with 22 scale items are positively and significantly related to perceived service quality. These dimensions constitute a measurement scale constructed to assess service delivery in Ghana’s universities. The findings also show that there are significant differences between the Ghanaian public and private university sectors in terms of students’ perceptions of teaching methodology, placement and university governance dimensions. The findings further revealed that student perceived value mediates the association between perceived service quality and overall student satisfaction. However, the direct effect of perceived service quality on overall student satisfaction is greater than the indirect effect.
The evidence from this study suggests that universities in Ghana need to consistently monitor and improve perceived service quality to enhance student satisfaction and delight. Managers of universities should be motivated to accept service quality as a major strategic tool to become market-oriented and competitive. Despite the limitations identified, which did not adversely affect the results of the study, the study makes a theoretical contribution to knowledge in conceptualisation and measurement of university service quality as it synthesises literature in a manner to build a model that introduces university governance as one new dimension of university service quality. The added value of this study emanates from comparing public and private universities based on country-specific dimensions of university service quality. This study thus contributes to the understanding of service quality in the Ghanaian university context
Borderlands: the edges of Europe [article]
No full textMy photographic project critically re-maps the land borders of the European Union, proposing a new representation that focuses on the people who inhabit the border zones, rather than political treaties and physical boundaries decided by central powers.
Over the past 10 years I have walked along the land borders of Europe, photographing extensively and asking myself the question “Where does Europe end? What separates me from the other side?” and I have found endless examples of families and communities that have been split by borders or who felt an affinity with “the other side”/
Borderlands: The Edges of Europe utilizes photographic storytelling to visually map the physical presence of the border through the images of its inhabitants and landscapes, creating an archive of vernacular narratives and offering an insight into the multifaceted development of European identity that is accessible to a broad public. This visual re-imagining of borders shifts the narrative from the borders being liminal areas with physical barriers to being territories that are inhabited, lived and experienced and most importantly are home to communities
Adapted qPCR methodology to detect telomere oxidative damage (TOD) associated with telomere attrition (TA) in murine tissue
Get PDFNumerous Studies suggest that oxidative stress (OS) is associated with telomere attrition (TA) but they rarely directly assay telomeric oxidative damage (TOD). TOD can alter shelterin binding, induce replication fork stalling and inhibit telomerase activity. We used a previously published method 1 to measure TOD and adapted it for use in murine tissue. Our model is a C57BL/6J mouse strain and we used qPCR and a formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase (FPG) enzyme-based qPCR method to directly determine TOD. FPG analysis compares reaction efficiencies before and after treatment. FPG is normally involved in base excision repairs pathways, removing oxidized Purines (notably 8-Oxo Guanine). A reduction in the efficiency of the qPCR indicates the presence of 8-oxo guanine in the telomeric tract ie TOD
The relationship between postpartum depression and postpartum support: expatriate and non-expatriate comparisons
Get PDFPoor social support is a known risk factor in the development of postpartum depression. Expatriate women may be at increased risk of experiencing lower levels of social support due to cultural and language barriers. Currently, research examining postpartum depression and levels of social support in expatriate women is sparse. The aim of this preliminary study was therefore to determine whether postpartum support is a predictor of postpartum depression in expatriate women. Sixty-five women based in the United Kingdom took part in an online cross-sectional survey consisting of a series of questionnaires gathering demographic information and measuring postpartum depression and postpartum social support. Of the total sample, 42 were expatriate and 23 were non-expatriate women, with a mean age of 33 years. Higher levels of depression were reported by the expatriate group. A significant negative correlation was identified between postpartum depression and postpartum support; perceived lack of social support was a significant predictor of postpartum depression. Levels of perceived emotional, material, informational and comparison support were reportedly lower in expatriate women compared to non-expatriate women. This study offers an early understanding of the potential risk factors associated with postpartum depression in expatriate women. Future studies are encouraged to develop interventions that aim to increase social support for expatriate women